


Gifted

by tvhbookfan



Series: Gifted Series [1]
Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, ESP, Gen, Psychic Rose, Supernatural Elements, Violent Scenes, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-15 13:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9236393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvhbookfan/pseuds/tvhbookfan
Summary: Young Rose Tyler was born with rare abilities. She has ESP, which allows her to read minds, see the past, present, and future, and be aware of the existence of creatures which others don't believe in. Further complicating matters are being bullied in school, her relationship with her loving but troubled mother Jackie, a series of horrific events which seem to follow her everywhere she goes, and the presence of an "imaginary" friend named John Smith. This is to be the first part of a series.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since this is my first story on AO3, some of the editing I did will seem a bit off. Please note that telepathic communication will be indicated by a lack of conversation brackets, in case that comes across as confusing. This story can also be found on Fanfiction.net, which currently includes more chapters than this version. This story will be updated weekly.

Part One: The Dangerous Power of Innocence  
London, 1992  
In a warm day in September, as many parents stood outside of Rockwell Grammar School and embraced their excited children as they were about to start a new school year, one young woman named Jackie Tyler remained in the safety of her used car as she was about to let her five- year-old daughter Rose off to start school.

Jackie wore a dark blue blouse, black trousers, dark sunglasses that fully concealed her blue eyes, and had her blonde hair tied up into a sloppy ponytail. She reserved her weary smile for her daughter, but maintained a serious expression as she scanned all the adults who were gathered around the school, trying to see if there was anyone she knew there or if anyone was starting in at her with those nosy expressions which she despised.

Rose, on the other hand, was all smiles and giggles, as she was just as excited as all the children outside, and had been begging her mother to get out of the car with her so they she could give her a proper goodbye. Since her mother kept declining her request, she devoted her time to having one last chat with her imaginary friend, whom she liked to call John Smith.

"Mummy, John Smith says that all parents should step out of the car when they say goodbye to their kids on their first day of school just to be on the safe side," Rose once again said in a last attempt to convince her mother. Jackie had already turned off the radio, which kept playing the same popular dance music which Rose loved but which Jackie couldn't stand This was an early sign for the child that she wasn't in a good mood, but being so young, she chose to ignore this and remain cheerful.

Jackie laughed. "Well then, tell John Smith that he probably doesn't believe in full independence for big girls. You're growing up more every day, Rosie, and big girls don't need to have their mothers taking them everywhere."

"But Mummy…"

"That's enough, sweetheart. You're getting out of this car on your own and that's final. One day, you'll thank me for this."

Rose sighed, but she understood that this would be her mother's final word on the matter. She reached out from the back seat and gave her mother a kiss in the cheek, and Jackie managed to put her arms around her daughter's shoulders.

"I love you, Mummy."

"I love you too, Rose. Good luck in school, and make sure that you always behave."

"John Smith says that he cares a lot about you as well."

"Tell John Smith that I appreciate it, but that he should leave you alone while you're at school. In here, not all kids are as nice as the ones you met at nursery school."

Rose nodded. Then she slowly opened the door and took her time as she stepped out. She gave her mother a slightly sad glance before she finally headed off to the school.

Jackie sighed, removed her sunglasses, and covered her face with her hand. There were so many things she wished she could do for Rose, as well as many others which she wanted to do for herself. If it wasn't stepping out of the car with her, then it was getting herself a new car. If it wasn't being able to find friends for Rose outside of her nursery school class, then it was trying to get away from her annoying coworkers at the preschool where she worked as an aid (which was where Rose had attended as well). If it wasn't finally getting that novel which she'd been working on for the past year published, then it was being able to get her act together and quit drinking for good. If it wasn't trying to understand why Rose was so intuitive, then it was wishing that Pete were alive again.

But of course, she probably wasn't going to get any of this anytime soon.  
...  
Looking around her, it wasn't hard for Rose to see why her mother didn't want to step out of the car. A lot of the kids out there had both their mummies and daddies with them, and many of them were smiling and laughing as they tried to say goodbye. Although some looked a little sad, none of them seemed to show any serious signs of what her mummy called stress. Even the mummies that were crying were chuckling and saying things like "Oh my, Roger! Can't you believe how fast Max is growing up?"

Rose didn't have a father, since her mummy told her that he had died not long after she was born, and although her mummy laughed and smiled quite often, it was also very common for her to get stressed, and when this happened, she would often yell at other people, including Rose, and get into a rage, often hurting other people. In other incidents, she would stay alone for hours in a room and cry, and for reason, this scared Rose more than when she got angry.

One of the causes behind this stress seemed to occur when she drank that liquid that came from either bottles or cans which she called alcohol. Rose always wondered how a drink could cause someone to get such strong feelings, and for that matter, why her mummy wanted it if it caused her so much problems. How many of the grownups here could possibly have the same problems as her mummy, she kept thinking to herself, and were there any kids here who both loved and feared their parents, just as she sometimes did?

That was when the chorus of voices began rushing through her mind:  
I work eight hours a week, and what's my reward? A bloody man who can never speak to me or spend any bloody time with the kids!  
Where's my credit card? I swear I put it in my wallet as soon as I left home, but I now I can't find it anywhere! Why do I have to be so forgetful?  
A second year student. It feels like just yesterday that I was holding Max in my arms as I walked out of the hospital. Why is it that time can't slow down once in a while and let us have our kids as they are now?  
Everything changes so fast. I used to run around playing ball with my friends and had everything that was necessary for school and work. Now with all these new gadgets, kids are spending more time indoors with their movies and video games, and working folks are more behind the times than ever before.

It was so strange. Rose never heard anybody she knew saying that they could hear what other people were thinking in their own minds, and yet she could hear it all the time even though no one else could. The friend which her mother thought was imaginary, John Smith, was the person whose voice she heard the most often, usually to either warn her about something or reassure her that everything was okay. He'd spoken to her in the car, advising her to get her mother to go out with her, and now Rose could feel that he was trying to reach her again through her mind:

Rose, get away from there, he was telling her. 

John Smith, you promised to stay away from me during school. Mummy says you have to, Rose told him.

Your mummy should have listened to my advice. Now you're about to walk into trouble. Run away now.

Why, John Smith? Can't you explain?

"Hey you over there! Who are you talking to?" It was the kid whose name was Max.

"I think she's crazy," said another boy, who was one of Max's companions.

It didn't take long for Rose to realize that they were bullies. She usually managed to speak to John Smith inside her head when she was with anyone other than mummy, but it got out of hand sometimes and other people would hear her, believing that she was just talking to herself, and therefore, thinking she was crazy.

There were now four boys gathered around her, and nearly all the parents were gone.

"Let's get her!" the tallest one declared, and one of them got a hold of one of her pigtails.

Rose, run! John Smith called out. 

She took off, with the red rubber band that tied up part of her hair coming off. A crowd of kids was now gathered, and they were all laughing and pointing at her, shouting "Get her! Get her!"

As she was running, she turned around to get a glimpse of the bullies, and one of them seemed as if he was being shoved, even though no one was next to him. He screamed as he was knocked to the ground, landing on mud and getting his school uniform all dirty. Some of the kids were frightened by this and left the scene, but many others stayed, waiting to see Rose's fate.

Then the tallest one came down. One of his shoelaces got untied and he stepped on it, resulting in him landing on the sidewalk. His pants ripped at the part covering his right knee, which started bleeding very badly.

The other two, which included Max and his first companion, finally caught up to Rose. Max got a hold on her remaining pigtail, and his friend grabbed her by the collar of her white school shirt.

"You thought you could run away from us, you crazy girl?" Max asked in a menacing tone.

"Crazy people don't have any friends at this school," Max's friend said, forming his right hand into a fist.

This was it. There was no way Rose could get away...

"Hey! Leave her alone!" A tall, dark-skinned boy, who had been a part of the crowd, had stepped up and gotten a hold of both Max and his friend. He punched Max twice on the head, causing his eye to turn black and his nose to bleed. He gave up, crying as he ran away. Then he shoved Max's friend. He was not hurt, but was completely terrified. The boy who rescued Rose then shouted out, "If any of you try to hurt that girl again, I'll get you again, and that is a promise!" The crowd which surrounded them was left speechless.

He then walked up to Rose, who was kneeling on the grass with her blonde hair looking very unruly and her school uniform all covered in dirt. "Are you all right?" he asked her as he helped her get up.

"I think so. Thanks for saving me. My name is Rose Tyler," Rose replied in a soft voice. She was starting to get a headache, and her face was red on account of her fear, but she managed to avoid crying, which she took as a sign that she was going to be able to handle this. And even she couldn't, this boy might be able to help her again.

"My name is Smith. Mickey Smith, and I'll be looking out for you for now on, " the boy replied in a voice that reminded Rose of the princes that appeared in many of her favorite movies, which she saw as another good sign. He and Rose held hands as they walked into the building, with many other students watching them in wonder.  
And Mickey would always keep his promise to Rose.


	2. Chapter 2

When Jackie finally did set foot out of the car, she felt as if she had just stripped naked in front of a large crowd, even with her sunglasses still on to conceal her eyes. Her coworkers, some who were already standing in the corner of the building and going on with their mindless gossip, immediately turned around and tilted their sharp, judgmental eyes in her direction. One woman, Lisa Holmes, who had dyed blonde hair and makeup that made her look more like a creature in a horror film than the winner of Miss Universe, let out a small chuckle. Another, Clarice Johnson, who still wore her light brown hair in that messy, overly curly eighties style, whispered something to a new worker whom Jackie didn't know.

There was no need for anyone to tell her: they nearly all despised her. They all knew that her life was difficult, that she dealt with her problems by either writing or drinking. They knew she would never have another man in her life, and that the best luck she'd have as a writer would be the freelancing she did for minor newspapers and magazines that only local residents of London and maybe the suburbs would ever read. But worst of all, they were fully aware of how deeply she cared about Rose. As far as they were concerned, Jackie was an unfit mother, despite the fact that she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her job, including avoiding drinking before work and avoiding saying the first thing that came to her mind when they bothered her. The pay wasn't the best, but the head of the nursery school, Karen Andrews, told her that if she continued doing well that she would help her pay for additional studies that would prepare her to be a certified instructor. Was this what she wanted? Not necessarily, but she wanted what was best for Rose above all else.

"Jackie! How are you?"

It was Hannah Lewis, Jackie's only friend at Rolling Meadows Nursery School. She had just earned her teaching degree, so she was going to be enjoying a raise and was planning to travel to visit some family members in the states during winter holidays. She had long, straight brown hair, and wore a white shirt and a long red skirt. Hannah sometimes drank with Jackie, but unlike her, she wasn't an alcoholic, limiting herself to one glass of beer or wine during social gatherings. She continued to get support from her upper middle class parents, and since they were Mormons, they would not tolerate someone with a drinking problem, and they were already suspicious of the things she did during her free time.

"I'm fine, Hannah. I just dropped Rose off for her first day of school."

"That's wonderful! Rose is certainly a child you can never forget meeting. Someone as smart and sweet as she is should have no trouble succeeding in school."

Jackie could not forget the look on Rose's face as she stepped out of the car. It was that same one she saw as she'd find herself drinking three cans of beer, when she arrived home late at night, when she lost her temper, or whenever Rose suspected that something was going wrong. As a matter of fact, the first time she saw that expression on her face was when she was about to get back home from the hospital and confront her parents with the fact that she had decided to keep her baby. Rose was only a week old, but that look on her face made her seem much older: a mixture of sorrow, fear, and empathy that was obvious just by looking into her eyes.

She had been crying hysterically when the time for Jackie to leave was about to come, and the doctors kept trying to see what was wrong but found nothing, so at the end they advised Jackie to come back if there were any problems. After she'd seen that look for the first time, which was when she was about to walk into the flat building where her parents lived, she opened the door, prepared to face whatever fate had in store for her. And it was awful. Her mother had called her every horrible name in the book, declared that she wanted nothing to do with her anymore, and told her that if she was to be reduced to scum on the street, she would not care. After that, she just slammed the door in Jackie's face, and that was the last time she'd heard from her family. And throughout that whole time, that look on Rose's face had remained as it was.

"Jackie? Is everything all right?" Hannah asked with concern.

"Yes. I'm just feeling a little tired right now."

After that incident, Pete had promised to take care of her and Rose. They had married a month before Jackie had given birth, and despite being deeply upset about being rejected by her mother, she had seen it coming. Neither one of her parents had ever cared about her. They were both alcoholics who barely managed to keep a job. Most of her childhood memories consisted of her parents screaming and sometimes even hitting each other at the living room or kitchen, and the various harsh punishments she was subjected to. She spent a lot of time in her room back then, drowning out the noise her parents made by turning on her small radio and then spending hours either reading or writing, determined to become a good student. She'd managed to successfully complete sixth form before her pregnancy, and even had plans to attend university part- time as an English major after Rose turned a year old.

But exactly a year after Rose's birth, Pete was hit by a car as he was crossing the road. He was reported dead upon arrival at the hospital, and with that, all of Jackie's plans for the future went downhill...

"Jackie!"

"I'm sorry, Hannah. I don't know what's gotten into me."

"We must get inside unless we want to get the talk from Karen." 

Jackie followed her friend into the small, welcoming building which formed the nursery school. She was fully on her own, and if Rose was to have a good future, she'd have to do things she'd rather avoid. In some ways, this job was only the smallest of her obstacles.

...

So far, school didn't seem like the nice place her mummy had described. Max and the other bullies had complained to the headmistress about Mickey having beaten them, and he, Rose, and some other children caught looking into what had happened were called into the office. However, because the other children were able to back Rose and Mickey's side of the story, Mickey was left off the hook with only a warning. Rose ended up coming in late for class, which was bad enough, and to make matters worse, the other kids in her class had already heard things about her being crazy. It got to the point where only her teacher, Ms. Bryan, used her name. All the other kids were calling her nuts, looney, or just the crazy girl. One girl even managed to hear something about John Smith, and had asked, "Hey Looney, is John Smith planning to take you to America? Because crazy girls can't stay in this country!"

She was relieved to see Mickey standing near the entrance when she got out of class. He was a year above Rose, so they couldn't see each other during class.

"How was class, Rose?" he asked, looking as if he expected what she had to say.

"Awful. All the kids think I'm crazy."

"But you know you're not, so the dumb stuff they say shouldn't bother you," he responded confidently.

Rose wished she could believe him. She'd been wondering if she was crazy ever since she first learned the meaning of the word back when she was three, which was the same time when John Smith first appeared to her. It was also around this time that the incident where her mummy gotten angry and broke Rose's arm had occurred. John Smith was always trying to assure her that she was not crazy, that she just had "special abilities", and that her mummy had something called an "addiction". But because some of the things he said to her were confusing, as well as his insistence that she avoid telling anybody about him, Rose often wondered if she just might be that way.

"Mickey!" called a woman driving in a strange green car. As the car came closer to them, Rose saw that she had brown hair that went down to her shoulders and hazel-colored eyes.

"Who's that?" Rose asked Mickey.

"That's Sarah Jane Smith, but we're not related. She's a friend of my parents and an investigative journalist." Turning to the woman, he said, "Sarah, this is my new friend Rose Tyler."  
Sarah opened up the car's window and smiled at Rose, saying, "Hello, Rose. Any friend of Mickey's is a friend of mine."  
After a while, Rose noticed that Sarah couldn't stop staring at her, with her smile soon disappearing. It was as if there was something about her that she found frightening, and soon after that, Rose noticed that she was wondering, Could it possible? Am I really meeting another...

"Miss Smith?" she found herself asking.

Then Sarah smiled again and said, "Never mind, dear. I'm just here to pick up Mickey. Did you want to come along with us?"

"No. My babysitter Ella is going to be picking me up."

"Bye, Rose. I'll see you tomorrow!" Mickey said as he stepped into the car.

Sarah looked at her silently for a while. Then, as she was closing the window, Rose heard a thought that was clearly directed towards her:

See you later, Rose Tyler.


End file.
